programs

Book Signing: Gary Ecelbarger

The David Davis Mansion Foundation is co-sponsoring with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentenntial Commission of McLean County a book signing event with Gary Ecelbarger. The event will be held on September 11 at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main, Bloomington at 7 p.m.

Mr Ecelbarger is an independent historian and symposium speaker, as well as a tour guide for the American History Forum. He is a frequently published author on mid-nineteenth century American History. His current project, The Dark Horse: How Abraham Lincoln Beat the Odds to Win the Presidential Nomination, is scheduled for publication by St. Martins Press.

Annual Meeting: Davis Mansion Meeting to Welcome Lincoln and Douglas

Wednesday, September 24 at the Normal Theater, 7 p.m.

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas re-enactors George Buss and Tim Connors will present "A Conversation with Lincoln and Douglas" at the David Davis Mansion Foundation annual meeting on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 7 p.m. at the Normal Theater. The fictional conversation recreates historical events in the intertwined lives of these two renowned Illinoisans, as if taking place in the months after Lincoln's inauguration as President in 1861.

Both Buss and Connors are from Freeport, Illinois. Buss has been a Lincoln presenter for nearly two decades, appearing previously in Bloomington-Normal on several occasions and also at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C., Gettysburg, and dozens of other sites. He not only has been honored by the Association of Lincoln Presenters, but also has presented academic papers on Lincoln and has served as president of the Stephen A. Douglas Association and vice-president of the Lincoln-Douglas Society. He was a long-time high school teacher and now serves as a district director for AVID, a college-preparatory program for local school districts.

Tim Connors has been a Stephen A. Douglas re-enactor with Buss for the past two years, and is scheduled for numerous appearances with Buss in 2008 at various Illinois sites celebrating the sesquicentennial of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, which occurred in Illinois in 1858. Connors is currently the speech and debate head coach at Freeport High School.

The David Davis Mansion Foundation was created in 1986 to assist the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency in its mission to engage, enlighten and entertain visitors with stories of the site, the Davis household, and the family's special relationship with Abraham Lincoln and others. One of the ways the foundation does this is through its annual meeting, which is free and open to the public.

Join The Tea Ladies© as they present an entertaining 30-minute program and mansion tour while dressed in Victorian-era costumes.

You may choose from among six different tea programs:

The Titanic: Teatime on the Titanic. Elegant Edwardians such as Lady Astor and Mrs. J.M. (Molly) Brown were in attendance. Join us for tea as we embark on the most fascinating voyage of an era. Guests participate in this program.

Outrageous Etiquette: Outlandish etiquette rules from the 1890s. The Tea Ladies share rules of Victorian etiquette you just won't believe. What fun! The audience participates in this program!

Victorian Bridal Traditions: This program features Victorian wedding traditions and bridal etiquette. Then we dress a Victorian bride from her corset to her gown.

A Garden Party. Garden hats, picnic graces and flower theme teas are discussed and demonstrated. Sarah Davis's heirloom garden is discussed and a garden tour is provided.

My Grandmother's Apron Bring your favorite vintage apron (or wear it!) and join us as we recall household duties of decades past, such as hanging laundry, canning, filling button boxes, stocking the pantry and sharing recipes. Truly a teatime for all the special ladies in our lives.

Hoop Skirts & Teacups. Civil War Women in Illinois. Teatime with a presentation from ladies' civil war letters and journals and some amusing stories about hoop skirts and other feminine finery.

Cost:
The cost of this Victorian program is $10.00 per person (minimum 20 guests, maximum 50 guests). $2.00 of each person's program fee is given as a donation to the David Davis Mansion.

Your Tea Program and Tour will be scheduled on the basis of the availability of the site/staff on your requested tour date. Every effort will be made to accommodate your first-choice date, but emailing a request does not guarantee confirmation. All tours are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis; reservation requests will be processed in the order that they are received.

Tea Service with Tea Program & Tour: A combined tea party and Victorian program is available at the rate of $22.00 per person (minimum 25 guests, maximum 50 guests). Guests enjoy en entertaining Victorian program and a "light tea" in the mansion's beautiful formal parlor. Light tea consists of hot brewed tea and an assortment of sweet tea treats. Guests are seated at tea tables covered with fine linens and all the proper tea appointments; a "Victorian maid" will also be at your service. The parlor accommodates a maximum of 30 guests seated at 5 tables; larger groups will be divided into two seatings. Please book the tea party, program and tour two months in advance. All tea programs are presented by The Tea Ladies. Call Nancy Perzo at (309) 827-2200 to book a reservation and visit The Tea Ladies website.

Lunch is also available for $27.00 per person. Please call Nancy Perzo at (309) 827-2200 for information and menu choices.

Christmas at Clover Lawn Events

Late November-December

The David Davis Mansion is lavishly decorated every year for a traditional late-Victorian Christmas.

Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Christmas Day & New Year's Day

The Blessings of the Table: Thanksgiving at Clover Lawn

November - Free
The house is decorated for a traditional New England Thanksgiving celebration (Sarah Davis was a native of Massachusetts), featuring the bountiful foods and dining customs of the Victorian era.

Victorian Christmas Tours

November 28-December 31, Wednesday-Sunday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Free public tours of the home, authentically decorated for a Victorian Christmas; donations welcome.

Christmas at the Mansions Tour

December 20, 4-9 p.m.
Music, costumed guides and holiday refreshments are featured as visitors tour three of Bloomington-Normal's historic mansions (the David Davis, Vrooman, and Broadview Mansions) while they are decorated for the holidays.
Tickets will be available at:

• The Garlic Press
• Casey's Garden Shop
• Both Schnucks locations (Bloomington and Normal)

Ticket prices (per person):

• $10 in advance
• $12 at the door

Shuttle service to all 3 mansions begins at the David Davis Mansion. For more information, contact the Davis Mansion at (309) 828-1084.

Sarah's Garden

Click here for information about programs and tours related to Sarah's Garden.

Lincoln Bicentennial Events

Dr. James Oakes will be the next invited Lincoln Bicentennial historian and author to speak in Bloomington Fall 2008. His visit is co-sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission of McLean County and the David Davis Mansion Foundation.

Dr. Oakes' presentation is part of the McLean County Reads initiative, a county-wide program designed to encourage the community to educate itself about Lincoln's contributions to America's growth as a nation. Dr. Oakes will be speaking about his most recent book, The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, published by W.W. Norton, 2007. This important work sheds new light on the central issues of slavery, race and equality in Civil-War America.

Dr. Oakes is professor of history and holds the Graduate School Humanities Chair at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written several other acclaimed works on slavery and the South, including Slavery and Freedom and The Ruling Race. He has also just been named as one of two recipients sharing the 2008 Lincoln Prize, an award for the year's best books on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. He received the honor from the Lincoln and Soldier's Institute at Gettysburg College on February 12, 2008.

Looking for Lincoln and Davis

Special exhibits and educational programs related to Abraham Lincoln and David Davis are part of a statewide tourism program. Call (309) 828-1084 for information.

An Afternoon or Evening with Sarah Davis

Join us for An Afternoon or Evening with Sarah Davis, and enjoy a theatrical experience you won't want to miss.

Humorous and original, this one-woman play based on the letters of Sarah Davis, takes the audience back to America's Gilded Age and makes history truly come alive. Patricia Schley, dressed in period Victorian costume, portrays Sarah Davis in a half-hour presentation.

This program is available weekdays and evenings year-round at the David Davis Mansion or off-site and is available for businesses and organizations of all kinds, including motor coach tour groups. Reservations are required.

Cost: $25 for a half-hour program

Description:
Sarah Davis was a fascinating Victorian "lady," who lived in an era of horse-drawn carriages, flickering gaslight, and stately mansions. She was a friend of Abraham Lincoln and of many other famous Americans as well. Bloomington was a sleepy frontier-town when she arrived here in the 1830s, the bride of a fledgling, young attorney. By the time of her death forty-one years later, the city had grown to several thousand, and Sarah was the wife of a millionaire.

Although she led a very private life, Sarah Davis played an important public role. She was a dutiful wife and mother, but she was also the manager of a large country estate. She vigorously opposed women's suffrage, but she also helped to pave the way for women's changing roles in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Glorious Garden Festival—Garden Walk
Always the third weekend in June

The Glorious Garden Walk offers self-guided tours through some of the loveliest private gardens in the Bloomington-Normal community. This breathtaking adventure allows you to appreciate the beauty of the gardens, while taking the time to gather ideas and enjoy the many gifts that nature has to offer.

You may visit the gardens in any order on either Friday, June 20, from 1 to 8 p.m., or Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maps and program books describing the gardens may be picked up during Garden Walk hours at the convenient, drive-up Garden Walk booth on the grounds of the David Davis Mansion, 1000 E. Monroe Dr., Bloomington.

The Garden Walk is a fundraising effort that benefits Chestnut Health Systems (click here) and the David Davis Mansion Foundation. Funds raised help the David Davis Mansion restore its historic garden and provide educational programs. Chestnut uses its funds to support services for families and adolescents receiving counseling or addiction treatment at Chestnut.

Gifts to the Prairie

The Garden Walk ticket price includes free entrance to the McLean County Museum of History, where visitors will see a special garden exhibit entitled: "Gifts to the Prairie: The Work of Pioneer Nurserymen & the Art of the Prestele Family." The exhibit features William H. Prestele's extraordinary lithographs, which were hand-colored to reflect the exact appearance and beauty of the most popular fruits and flowers of the day. Created for Bloomington's F. K. Phoenix Nursery—the largest commercial nursery in the West in 1867—the prints represent the unique art form used by pioneer nurserymen, such as Phoenix, to sell their plant stock. The exhibit explores the work of these men, the high-quality lithographs they used to sell their stock, and the way in which they transformed the Illinois prairie landscape.

Tickets will go on sale in May at these fine businesses:

• Normal:
• • The Garlic Press, 108 W. North St.
  • Green View Companies, 1813 Industrial Park Rd.
  • Wild Birds Unlimited, 1520 E. College Ave.
  • Schnucks Supermarket, North Main at Raab Rd.
  • Chasin' Rainbows, 1540 E. College Ave.
• Bloomington:
• • Casey's Garden Shop, 1505 North Main
  • The Copy Shop, 302 E. Washington
  • Grieder Sod & Landscaping, 1804 Towanda-Barnes Rd.
  • Wendell Niepagen Greenhouses, 2010 Fox Creek Rd.
  • Schnucks Supermarket, 1701 E. Empire

Ticket Prices:

• $12 in advance
• $15 the weekend of the event
• $7 for children 1-17

New this year: "Kids in the Garden" Event — Saturday only

Children will enjoy creating environmentally friendly garden creatures at the "Build-a-Bug" workshops on Saturday (on the Mansion grounds) and going on a special scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt will begin in Sarah's Garden and continue at the McLean County Museum of History, where special prizes will be given to all children attending the event. The Saturday-only children's events will begin on the Mansion lawn. Tickets for the scavenger hunt and kids' workshops are $10 per family (up to 4 persons) & are available only at the mansion on Saturday. Call for information about the Kids in the Garden event: (309) 828-1084.

If it rains, bring your umbrella! The Glorious Garden Walk will proceed rain or shine!

Glorious Garden Festival Sponsors

Volunteer:

The David Davis Mansion Foundation and Chestnut Health Systems would not be able to co-host this event without the terrific support of volunteers. More than 100 volunteers support this event by staffing the gardens to ensure an enjoyable time for participants. Anyone interested in volunteering may call the mansion at (309) 828-1084 or email